Innocence
by A-BondofFlame-R
Summary: There was always that strange man up at the clock tower with him...but why do I feel like I remember him? And why does he know my name? Akuroku, summary is terrible.


**Yes! Another one for you! Akuroku is my absolute favorite pairing and since I'm depressed, I shall write. Onward!**

The air was cold and heavy that night, the night he finally remembered. He recalled that stranger that would show up at the clock tower right before he went up with his ice cream.

* * *

The guy never spoke, not one single word, but he would always eat his popsicle while staring at Roxas. After a few days, Roxas asked the red haired man what his name was. He unplugged his headphones from his iPod and flashed the back at him. The inscription on the back read something like '_Love you, Axel.' _ He felt like he had seen it before…somewhere.

"Can I see that for a minute? It looks really familiar for some reason...," he asked, trying to think of where he could have seen that before. Roxas looked up to see the man smile, and his gaze softened from his usual broken stare. He pushed the music player into the boy's thin hands.

Roxas turned the device over in his hands.

"Oh, by the way, my name is Roxas." He continued checking it over. Scrolling through the different playlists, he noticed one titled 'Roxas.' He blinked. Once, twice. Re-reading the text, he confirmed his own name. The blond boy wondered if maybe one of his friends had gotten an EXTREME makeover and was messing with him.

"Okay Hayner, that's seriously not funny. Is Pence helping you stand?" the boy asked, irritation seething in his voice. The man jumped back. When he spoke, his voice was manly, deep, and it made Roxas' stomach lurch.

"You saw that playlist and thought I was one of your friends punkin' you, right? Huh. When the others said I could always see right through you, they knew what they were sayin'. Now don't go and arch your little eyebrows because you're confused. I'm gonna explain if you'll just sit tight and not run off like you usually do." Roxas HAD raised his brows at his comments, and he wondered how this stranger knew so much about him. His mind was telling him to run -and quick- but his heart was telling him to stay. His heart was also saying something else, but it wasn't a familiar message for Roxas. The young boy swallowed, and nodded for the older one to go on. Before Axel went on, he smirked.

"Huh. Guess I really do know you too well. Anyway, onto why I know your name. You and I…we used to be best friends. We were in the Organization together, but then…you got swiped and you got your memory swapped. I'm just here trying to get you back." Axel looked down at the toes of his black boots. Roxas felt a rush sweep over him; another wave of familiarity. He tried, he really racked his brains, but he found no memory of this man. The blond blushed, thinking that he would have remembered such a unique, attractive man. The gorgeous jade eyes, the flaming hair, the toned body, but nothing even topped the smile. Oh…his smile. He'd only seen it a few times, but it was lovely. It made the man's whole face light up, and his lips were perfect.

"If you remember…well, you'll know where we are. If you don't…I'll be here tomorrow." He lifted his hand, and a vortex of spiraling blue and black opened. Axel stepped in so quickly, Roxas didn't have a chance to even react. He looked down at his feet to ponder, and noticed the blue and green iPod in his hands. The blond took note that the green matched Axel's eyes.

Roxas was walking home, listening to some of the songs on the iPod, hoping something would jog his memory before tomorrow. The mysterious Axel made him feel…good. He hadn't noticed before, but whenever he was around, he felt safe. Almost like nothing in the world could go wrong. Roxas always strangely felt warmer, too. He pondered about the secretive man…the man seemed too depressed to be able to be his friend. Roxas was an overall content person, with some obvious exceptions. Like right now, for example. But no one in the world was constantly happy, unless they were on drugs. Anyway, Roxas was digressing from the main topic. Axel seemed too depressed and down to be able to even hold up a normal conversation.

Suddenly the street was spinning, making him dizzy. The last thing he saw was the concrete rushing up to meet his face.

_"Hey, you remember the day we met? You had just gotten your new name, and I was trying to make you human –well, as human as we can be- before you met the others." Beautiful grassy eyes looked back at him. There were dark, upside down teardrops on both the man's cheekbones. He chuckled before responding._

_ "Yea. I hardly remember anything but you from that first week. That whole week I remember you were helping me remember how to act normally." He felt a warm, slender hand on his shoulder. _

_ "Man, "the other boy sighed, "that first week, I remember you didn't say a word. You acted like a zombie. But I mean, you're still kinda a zombie!" The red head grinned at him in the sunlight, and they laughed together, watching the sun fade into the distance from the clock tower._

Even though his eyelids were closed, the bright light hurt. Roxas forced his eyes open, despite the pain it caused him. All he could see were two pairs of green eyes looking down at him.

"Roxas!" it was a girl's familiar voice, "You finally woke up! Oh my goodness Roxas, Pence and I went out to look for you, 'cause, you know, you like didn't come home, and we were totally worried. But then we like found you passed out on the street, so Pence like threw you over his shoulder and carried you here, and you were passed out for two hours!!" Olette spoke quickly and in a high, raspy voice. She was his friend, but sometimes…well, Olette will be Olette.

The blond boy sat up and rubbed his temples. He remembered his…well, it certainly wasn't a dream… But then what exactly was it? He sighed. Maybe Axel would know…

"Anything wrong, Roxas?" The voice this time came from his spiky haired friend Pence. "You seem a little out of it…plus you don't normally just pass out in the street." Pence smiled at him, trying to let Roxas know that whatever it was, it'd be okay with him. Roxas smiled back, and just shook his head.

"It sounds real weird, but honestly Pence, I have no idea why I fainted. The last thing I remember was walking home…and then I woke up here." Pence scratched the back of his head in confusion. The dark haired boy looked up at the ceiling in thought. Olette went over to sit by her boyfriend, joining him in thought. Roxas lay back down on the make-shift bed, recalling the events of the day. His hand slid into his pocket, grabbing Axel's iPod. He pushed the ear buds into his ears, and listened to the playlist Axel had made for him over again. The current song was a girl –Roxas thought she had a small British accent- singing about how much she missed this person. How no matter how hard she would try, she wouldn't be able to bring the person back, but she couldn't forget them either. The first few songs that had played, he had cried for. His cheeks flushed from the memory, thanking god that he had been alone. He kept listening, and fell asleep in his friends' hangout.

Once again, Roxas woke up to burning light. Groaning, he checked the flashing neon clock on the wall.

"HOLY BULLHONK! It's already one in the afternoon?!?" He was yelling to nobody in particular, because nobody was actually around. Pence and Olette and apparently gone off somewhere, leaving him to sleep in peace. He sighed. He had some pretty considerate friends. Then Roxas smirked, because just maybe they had noticed how much of a buzz kill he was when he didn't have enough sleep.

Being up this late reminded him strangely of Axel. A fine blush rose up his neck and cheeks when he remembered the previous night's –well, day's- dreams. They were about the young man and himself, resting on one another at the beach. The dream was all too real. He swore he could feel heat radiating off the red head, he could even smell his scent. The smell reminded him faintly of the outside after a storm, but also of a wild fire. Roxas didn't even know how he knew either scent.

As he was pondering, he turned on Axel's iPod. The playlist Axel had made for him was so long, he hadn't even made it all the way through the songs yet. Thumbing through the songs, Roxas found the song he had ended on and went to the next one. This new song was called 'Almost Lover.' Man did this guy ever sound depressed.

Remembering that Axel was depressed made his heart swell with and unfamiliar sensation. Roxas shook it off and walked out of the fenced in hangout. He really needed to get some answers from Axel. Maybe some ice cream would calm make these feelings go away. Speaking of ice cream, Axel promised he would meet Roxas at the clock tower. The blond boy bounded up the hill to go and meet the red head.

The music player was in his left hand, the sea salt treat in his other. He raced up the steps to the top of the clock tower to meet Axel. Roxas didn't know why, but just the thought of seeing the older boy brought a smile to his face.

As he rounded the corner at the top of the stairs, he smacked right into a hard wall. He ran so fast into the wall that if it weren't for it reaching out to catch him, he would've fallen. Wait, walls don't have arms! Roxas looked up to see Axel gleaming jade eyes. The red haired man grinned at him.

"Well, someone seems pumped. Even though you DO look like you have a hangover. Have you become a drunk Roxas?" The man's tone was teasing, but Roxas didn't notice. There was a sensation he was sure he had felt before coursing through his veins. Once again, he couldn't identify the feeling, but it made him feel whole on an entirely new level. He loved being in this strange man's arms.

"Yo, Roxas. Hello? Geez man, what HAS gotten into you?" Axel's laughter snapped Roxas out of his trance. The blond boy suddenly remembered the strange dream thing. He would only tell Axel about the first one, because if that's all they were, just dreams, he didn't want the red head to think he was some sort of pervert. He looked up into the man's eyes to get his attention.

"Axel, yesterday I was walking home, and I just passed out. But I guess while I was passed out I either had a realistically random dream or I remembered something." Axel's vibrant green eyes widened as he spoke.

"Well, based on the fact when you used to remember things from Sora you'd pass out, I'm gonna bet you remembered something. Why don't we sit down and you'll tell me about it?" The tall boy let go of Roxas' arms and sat down against the tower wall. With a long, slender finger he beckoned for Roxas to sit down next to him. He lowered himself to sit next to Axel, making sure that he wasn't too close.

"Well, we were sitting up here. And you and I were talking about the day we first met…you said I had just gotten my new name. You were telling me how the first week you were just trying to teach me how to be as human as we could be again…and that you remembered the first week I didn't even speak…or something like that. The sun was setting and we both had ice cream." Roxas hadn't looked at the man for the entire speech. When he looked up at Axel, the slim boy was smiling slightly and his eyes were glassed over.

"Roxas, you're starting to remember things, aren't you? Feelings you can't explain, dreams that confuse you, and memories you can't even begin to comprehend. Well, come see me once you remember the big one, 'kay?" With that, the man stood up and offered his hand to help Roxas up. Reaching out tentatively, he took the gloved hand and was pulled to his feet. Cerulean eyes locked with emerald, and before Roxas could even register that Axel had left, the older boy had kissed his hand lightly and stepped into the spiraling vortex. Another deep flush had run over his face.

He put his hands in his pockets, and found that he still had Axel's iPod.

"Crap…" he whispered to himself. Ah, well, he could just listen and see if anything could jog his memory. He sat there for hours, listening to that playlist, but all he could get was remembrance of feelings and bits and pieces of himself and Axel talking on the clock tower.

The sun was disappearing behind the horizon, and the next song was the last one before the playlist would repeat. Roxas closed his eyes in a desperate attempt to remember something –anything- that he could go back to Axel with. The song started, and the young boy focused in on the lyrics.

_It's hard to deal with the pain of losing you everywhere I go, but I'm doin' it._

_It's hard to force that smile when I see our old friends and I'm alone._

_Still harder; gettin' up, gettin' dressed, living with this regret._

_But I know if I could do it over-_

Roxas shut the music off. He opened his eyes, and flipped the iPod over.

_Love you, Axel. _

He racked his brains, trying to find the date. The last time he knew, it was August fifth, and that was three days ago. That meant today was…

The blond boy ran down the steps with every fiber of his being. He ran so fast he couldn't even feel his legs moving.

* * *

Roxas threw the large doors open and burst into the common room of the castle. His eyes swept over the room looking for Axel. There was no sign of wine colored hair, so he ran down the hallway toward the room he had spent so many nights in. Once he reached said room, the door was cracked. The blond boy peeked in, spotting Axel looking out a window. The boy rushed into the room, throwing his arms around Axel's torso. The man jumped, throwing Roxas off him. Axel whipped around to find the blond grinning, but his eyes were starting to water.

"Do you really remember, Roxy?" the man whispered, his voice cracking. Roxas held out his the green and blue music device.

"Happy birthday, Axel." Roxas' tears fell, and so did the older boy's as they embraced each other. Roxas savored the feeling, he had missed it so much, just in the few minutes he had remembered. He felt terrible for his red haired friend.

"I love you Axel," the blond whispered into his chest. He felt Axel's warm hands under his chin, tipping his face upward.

"I love you too, Roxas." And with that, he sealed their proclamation by pressing his soft lips against the younger boy's mouth.

…………………………..

**Well, I took the day school was cancelled to write this. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm really depressed right now and I've heard some perfect Akuroku songs, so don't flame for the music-ness. R&R please! Oh yea, I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of the music…so. Yea.**


End file.
